literary luau: a spring break adventure

Spring comes to us a little later than most of the U.S. March and April can seem to last forever as the snow continues to fall and the temperatures remain low. So, this year, we decided to bring the spring to us! A group of friends and I hosted a free event for everyone in our town to come together in the school gym for a Literacy Luau in partnership with Oriental Trading Company.
It was a fun night full of laughter, dancing, crafting, and, most importantly, book reading! Every child left the event with at least five free books in hand, giving them plenty of reading material to last until our true spring comes.

With a few fun things sent from Oriental Trading Company, the gym was transformed into a tropical oasis. It doesn't take much to create lasting memories in the eyes of a child!

Here are the activities we had available at the event:

1. Snack Activity - with a couple large bowls of fruit loops and a bundle of yarn, the kids made tropical necklaces and bracelets!

2. Bookmark Making - we taught the kids how to make bookmarks and decorated them like birds!

3. Autobiography Corner - I found a printable for the kids to fill out, color, and decorate!

4. Book Walk - we used tropical music and books for prizes in this non-traditional take on a "cake walk".

5. Beach Ball Fun - with such affordable beach balls, we wrote action words, letters, and rhyming words on the beach balls to use in literacy catch games.

6. Book Exchange - at this station, we had hundreds of donated books that kids could choose from. As they entered this area, they were also gifted a colorful lei.

7. Sand Box Treasures - a large sandbox was brought in and filled with new sand. We then added sea shells, gems, and other small treasures for the younger kids to dig up. This activity could be taken a step further with letters or sight words written on the treasures.

8. Guest Readers - towards the end of the night, we gathered everyone into one area (that we had covered in beach towels) and invited two guest readers come forward. The school's reading intervention teacher and the local children's librarian. They both dressed in Hawaiian shirts and read beach-based stories that the kids adored! During this time we also handed out juice and water.

It was seriously such a fun night!

Although I partnered with Oriental Trading Company, all opinions are my own. AND although this event took place at the school, my kids and I created a similar scene for the pictures in this post for two reasons. First, I wanted to focus on the event as a host instead of trying to take beautiful pictures. Second, I don't post pictures of other children unless I know the parents well and have talked about it with them.